Refrigerator latch



Jan. 15, 1957 w. o. BURKE EIAL 2,777,721

REFRIGERATOR LATCH Filed May 21, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet l William afar/Pa. /70i eri5 Larsow.

Jan. 15, 1957 w. o. BURKE ETAL 2,777,721

REFRIGERATOR LATCH Filed May 21, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent REFRIGERATOR LATCH 0. Burke and Robert S. Larson, Rockford, 111., assignors to National Lock Company, Rockford, 111., a corporation of Delaware Application'May 21, 1954, Serial No. 431,538

4 Claims. (Cl. 292-332) The present invention relates to a novel refrigerator latch for effectively latching the door of a refrigerator and maintaining it in tight sealing engagement with the cabinet, and more particularly relates to a novel latch construction mounted in and carried by the door and adapted to be spring-actuated into latching engagement with a keeper mounted on the cabinet.

Among the objects of the present invention is the provision in a refrigerator latch of a novel spring-loaded cam mechanism for controlling the operation of a latch bolt, said cam mechanism being so constructed and arranged as to retain the latch bolt in cocked position when the door is opened and to forcibly move the latch bolt into latching engagement with a keeper on the cabinet when the latch bolt is tripped as 'the door is moved toward closed position.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of a novel latch assembly having a pivotally or rotatably mounted latch bolt movable into and out of latching engagement with a stationary keeper, and camming means for controlling the movement of said latch bolt into latching engagement with the keeper when the door is closed, and into unlatched, cocked position when the door is opened.

A further object of the present invention is the provision of a novel refrigerator latch including a pivotally mounted latch bolt and a novel spring-loaded cam mechanism for engaging and retaining the latch bolt in cocked, unlatched position when the door is unlatched and opened, and when the latch bolt is tripped upon moving the door toward closed position positively moving and camming the latch bolt into tight latching engagement with a keeper on the cabinet and the door into tight sealing contact with the adjacent face of 'the cabinet, the cam mechanism and latch bolt being so constructed and arranged as to effect and maintain the requisite closing and sealing pressure without slamming or applying any external pressure to the door.

In the disclosed embodiment, the latch bolt is provided with a roller maintained in pressure contact with a cam face on a pivotally mounted spring-loaded cam member, the cam face being so contoured as to provide a recess for receiving and retaining the roller and the latch bolt in cocked, unlatched position upon the latch being released and opening of the door, and a recess for receiving the roller and maintaining the latch bolt in latched position and the door held sealed against the cabinet until the latch bolt is again unlatched and the door opened.

Further objects are to provide a construction of maximum simplicity, efliciency, economy and ease of assembly and operation, and such further objects, advantages and capabilities as will later more fully appear and are inherently possessed thereby.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a view in perspective of a refrigerator equipped with the novel latch assembly.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary enlarged view in horizontal cross section through the present latch construction,

through the latch handle and through the mounting in the door of the refrigerator, and through the keeper or strike assembly mounted in the side of the cabinet, the view being taken on substantially the line 2-2 of Fig. 4 and viewed in the direction of the arrows with the latch bolt in latching engagement with the keeper or strike on the cabinet and with the door of the refrigerator closed and in sealing engagement with the cabinet.

.Fig. 3 is a horizontal cross sectional view similar to Fig. 2, but showing the position of the parts of the latch assembly as the door is being closed and the latch bolt about to be tripped from its unlatched, cocked position into latching engagement with the keeper or strike on the cabinet.

Fig. 4 is a view in rear elevation of the latch assembly in latching position in the door of the refrigerator, the view being taken on substantially the line 44 of Fig.2 and viewed in the direction of the arrows but omitting all details of the door and keeper or strike.

Fig. 5 is avhorizontal cross sectional view similar to Figs. 2 and 3 but showing the position of the parts of the latch assembly as the door is being opened with the latching end of the latch bolt having just been withdrawn from the keeper or strike and the roller on the latch bolt having been moved into cocked or locked position but ready to be tripped upon again closing the door.

Fig. 6 is another horizontal, cross sectional view similar to Figs. 2, 3 and 5, but showing the latch bolt accidentally tripped to uncocked or latched position and depicting what happens when the door is moved to closed position with the latch bolt uncocked.

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary view in front elevation of a portion of the cabinet and showing the keeper or strike assembly.

Referring to the disclosure in the drawings and more particularly to the details of construction of the illustrative embodiment therein shown, the novel refrigerator latch assembly is shown mounted in a refrigerator door 10 and provided with a latch bolt 11 having latching engagement with a roller 12 providing a keeper or strike of a keeper assembly 13 adjustably mounted in a side wall of a refrigerator cabinet 14-. For effecting sealing engagement between the interior of the cabinet and the edge of the door 10, the latter is provided with a compressible sealing gasket 15 mounted along the edge 16 of the door encompassing the cabinet opening and adapted to have sealing contact with the adjacent face or edge 17 of the cabinet 14. Thee door is hinged for swinging movement along its vertical edge 18.

. The keeper or strike assembly 13 is shown as provided with a threaded shank 19 mounted for longitudinal adjustment in a bracket or support 2&3 which is internally threaded for receiving the shank and provided with oppositely projecting flanges 21 adapted to be anchored to a supporting plate 22 in the cabinet 29. A set screw 23 threadedly carried in the side wall of the bracket is adapted to lock the keeper shank 19 in adjusted position by causing the end of the screw to seat in a longitudinally extending slot or groove 24. The keeper assembly 13 further includes spaced arms or bifurcations 25 carrying a pin 26 upon which is mounted the roller or keeper 12 adapted to be engaged by the hooked end 27 of the latch bolt 11.

The latch bolt assembly designated generally as .28 comprises a substantially U-shaped bracket or housing 29 having its base 31 anchored upon the interior surface of the outer wall 32 of the door 10 by means of bolts or other securing means projecting through oppositely projecting anchoring legs or flanges 33 of the housing or bracket 29 (Fig. 4). At its inner end the housing is provided with an offset at 34 having oppositely and out- Wardly projecting legs or flanges also held in place by anchoring bolts or other securing means.

The latch bolt 11 is shown arranged between and in spaced relation with the spaced side walls 36 of the bracket or housing 29, with one end 37 pivotally mounted upon 'a transverse pin 38 having its opposite ends anchored in the recessed portion of the spaced side walls 36 of the housing. Intermediate its length the latch bolt is provided with a depending portion 39 carrying a transverse pin 4-1 projecting therethrough and upon each proiecting end of which is mounted a roller 42 whereby a roller is disposed at each side of the latch bolt (Fig. 4). At its forward end the latch bolt is provided with the hooked latching end 27 and a spaced projection or trip 43 defining a relatively deep slot 44, with the proiection or trip 43 extending a substantial distance beyond the hooked latching end for engagement with the roller or keeper 12 when 46 and anchored to these members to maintain them in spaced relation. These spaced similar cam'members 46 of the cam unit are of substantially C-shape and the I unit or assembly 45 is pivotally mounted upon a transverse pin 49 adjacent to but spaced from the base 31 of the housing or bracket 29 and anchored in the side walls 36 thereof for pivotal movement. A second transverse pin 58 projects through an arcuate slot 51 in each of the cam members 46 with its ends anchored in the side walls 36 of the housing 2.9, with these arcuate slots being in alignment and controlling or limiting the arc of travel of these cam members 46 and the cam unit 4-5. One end 52 of each cam member 46 is so contoured or recessed at 53 to conformably receive and retain a roller 42 on the latch bolt 11 when the latch bolt is in cocked position as shown in Fig. 5.

The other end54 of each cam member 46 is connected by a transverse pin 55 receiving therebetween an inverted, substantially U-shaped bracket 56 and a link or bar 57, the latter being slotted at 58 for passage therethrough of the pin 55. At its upper end this link or bar is pivotally mounted on a fixed transverse pin 59 having its ends anchored in the sidewalls 36 of the housin or bracket 29, and encompassing this bar between the bracket 56 and the pin 59 is a coil compression spring 61 which bears at its opposite ends against the pin 59 and the bracket 56 whereby the cam unit 45 is spring-biased and rotated in a clockwise direction about its pivot pin 49.

A coil spring 62 encompasses the transverse pin 38 with its opposite ends 63 bearing against the underside of the pin 59 and with a substantially U-shaped intermediate portion 64 tensionally engaging the underside of the latch bolt lL'spring-biases and rotates the latch bolt in a clockwise direction about its pivot pin 38 to elevated or cocked position as shown in Fig. 5.

To unlatch the latch bolt 11, there is provided a handle 65 on the exterior of the door Ill. This handle is pivotally mounted upon a pin 66 (Fig. 2) carried in a bracket or face plate 67 rigidly atlixed to the exterior of the door by bolts or other suitable securin or anchoring means. The recessed rear surface of the handle is provided with an embossment 68 in contact with the knob or enlarged head 69 of a plunger 71 slidably mounted in a collar or hearing 72 provided on the bracket or face plate 67 and tion about its pivot pin 66 to its inoperative position, but when the operator grasps and pulls on the free end 74 of the handle, the opposite end 75 of the handle is moved inwardly toward the bracket or face plate 67 to compress the spring 73 and force the plunger 71 inwardly, whereupon the inner end of the plunger forcibly engages the connecting plate or cross member 48 of the cam unit 45 and moves this cam unit in a counterclockwise direction about its pivot pin 49.

Assuming the door is closed and latched as shown in Fig. 2, each of the rollers 42 on the latch bolt 11 is disposed and seated in a recess 76 of a cam member 46 and held against the curved cam face thereof. To open the door. it the end 74 of the handle 65 is pulled whereupon the plunger 71 is forced inwardly against the cross member or connectingplate 48; This causes the cam members 46 to rotate in a counter-clockwise direction against the compression of the coil spring 61 and the spring-biased latch bolt ll is moved relative to the cam unit 45 until the rollers 42 ride inwardly over the cam face of the cam members 4-6 and each roller enters a cam on the relatively heavy coil spring 61 coiled about they link or bar 57 which forces the cam unit 45 in a clockwise direction about its pivot pin 49.

Movement of the cam unit 45 is limited by the arcuate slot 51 and the fixed pin 50, and by the elongated slot 58 and the pin 55 carried by the bracket 56 and the adjoining ends 54 of the cam members 46;

Tripping and latching engagement of the latch bolt 11 upon closing the door 10 requires little elfort or force on the projection or trip 43, only suflicient pressure or force being necessary to move the rollers 42 out of the cam recesses 53 whereupon the force of the spring 61 rotates the cam unit in a lockwise direction-with the rollers 42 riding overthecam face of the cam members 46 and into the cam recess 76, with the hooked end 27. of the latch bolt 11 forcibly moved into latching engagement with the roller or keeper 12. This movement is a snap action that drawsthe door 10 inwardly toward the cabinet and compresses and retains compressed the sealing gasket 15 between the door and cabinet.

Although it is seldom, if ever, that the latch bolt 11 is tripped or uncooked when the door '10 is open or before being closed, in the event. the latch bolt is accidentally tripped and uncooked, the present latch assembly is so constructed and designed as to eliminate shock to the latching mechanism should the door he moved toward closed position with the latch bolt uncooked. Fig.6 discloses what happens when the latch bolt 11 is accidentally tripped to locked or uncooked position and the door is moved to closed position, in which event the curved or rounded surface 77 of the hooked end 27 of the latch bolt 11 strikes the roller or keeper 12 and latching is not effected. As the rollers 42 on the latch bolt 11 are free to move down or along the cam face adjacent the recess 76 of the cam members 46, all shock to the latch mechanism is eliminated. To return the latch bolt 11 to cocked position and permit latching of the door 10, the operator need only pull on the handle 65 with the door held open and thereby cause the plunger 71 to rotate the cam unit 45 in a counter-clockwise direction about its pivot 49 until each roller 42 on the spring-biased latch bolt 11 again seats in its cam recess 53 on the latch bolt on a refrigerator door adapted to be rotated into and out of latching engagement with a keeper on a refrigerator cabinet, a supporting housing in the door, means for pivotally mounting the latch bolt at one end thereof in the housing and limiting its movement to rotation about said pivotal mounting means, a latch-engaging part on the other end of the latch bolt, a roller carried by the latch bolt intermediate its ends, means for springbiasing said latch bolt to its cocked, unlatched position when the door is opened, and a spring-loaded cam member pivotally mounted intermediate its ends in the housing and having a cam face in contact with the roller and provided with a recess for receiving and retaining the roller and latch bolt in cocked, unlatched position when the cam member is rotated to release the latch bolt and the door is opened, a slot in one end of said cam member and a fixed pin projecting therethrough for limiting the arc of travel of said cam member, a slotted link pivotally mounted at one end in the housing, a pin in the other end of the cam member connected to the link through a longitudinal slot in the link, and an expansion spring carried by the link for spring-biasing the cam member and maintaining its cam face in contact with the roller.

2. A refrigerator latch comprising a pivotally mounted latch bolt on a refrigerator door adapted to be rotated and moved into and out of latching engagement with a keeper on a refrigerator cabinet, a supporting housing in the door, means for pivotally mounting the latch bolt at one end thereof in the housing and limiting movement of the latch bolt to rotation about said means, a latchengaging part on the other end of the latch bolt, a roller carried by the latch bolt intermediate its ends, means for spring-biasing the latch bolt to rotate it to its cocked, unlatched position, a cam member pivotally mounted intermediate its ends in the housing and having a cam face adjacent one end, means for spring-biasing the cam member to rotate in the same direction as said latch bolt whereby said cam face engages the roller on the latch bolt and controls pivotal movement of the latch bolt and including a projection carried by said cam member adjacent one of its ends, a part carried by said projection, and a spring bearing against said part for springloading said part and projection to rotate the cam member and maintain said cam face in contact with said roller on the latch bolt, said cam face being recessed to hold the roller and latch bolt in cocked, unlatched position and further recessed for holding the roller and latched bolt in uncooked latched position, said cam member having an arcuate slot adjacent its other end, a pin fixed in the supporting housing and projecting through said slot for limiting the arc of travel of said cam member, and means on the latch bolt for engaging the keeper when the door is moved toward closed position and tripping and releasing the latch bolt from its cocked, unlatched position in which the roller leaves the first mentioned recessed portion of the cam face and is moved into the second mentioned recessed portion of the cam face and the latch bolt is forcibly moved into latching engagement with the keeper.

3. A refrigerator latch comprising a pivotally mounted latch bolt on a refrigerator door adapted to be rotated and moved into and out of latching engagement with a keeper on a refrigerator cabinet, a supporting housing in the door, means for pivotally mounting the latch bolt at one end thereof in the housing, a latch-engaging part on the other end of the latch'bolt, means for spring-biasing the latch bolt to'its cocked,lunlatched position, a roller carried by the latch bolt intermediate its ends, a cam member pivotally mounted intermediate its ends in the housing and means for spring-loading said cam member and biasing it to rotate in the same direction as the latch bolt, said means including a pin carried adjacent one end of the cam member, a link pivotally mounted at one end in' the housing and free to pivot at its other end, a slot in said link adjacent said other end through which said last mentioned pin projects and is movable, a bracket mounted on and carried by said last mentioned pin and an expansion spring carried by said link and bearing against the bracket for spring loading said last mentioned pin and its cam member, said cam member having a cam face recessed at one end for engaging and retaining the roller and latch bolt in cocked, unlatched position when the latch bolt is released and the door is opened, with the cam member held spring-loaded to forcibly move the latch bolt into latching engagement with the keeper when the latch bolt is released from its cocked, unlatched position upon closing the door, and means including a slot in the other end of the cam member and a fixed pin in the housing projecting through the slot for limiting the arc of travel of said cam member.

4. In a latch construction including a latch unit mounted in a door and having latching engagement with a keeper on a cabinet when the door is closed, said latch unit comprising a housing mounted in the door, a latch bolt pivotally mounted adjacent one end in the housing and at its free end provided with a hooked part for latching engagement with the keeper, means for spring-biasing the latch bolt to unlatched, cocked position, a roller carried by the latch bolt at each side thereof, a spring-loaded cam unit pivotally mounted intermediate its ends in the housing and including spaced cam members adjacent one end of said unit and disposed at the opposite sides of the latch bolt, each member having adjacent said one end an arcuate slot and a cam face in contact with one of said rollers on the latch bolt whereby movement of the latch bolt into latching engagement is effected by movement of the cam members and pressure applied to the rollers, a fixed pin projecting through the arcuate slots to limit the arc of travel of said unit, a cam recess on said cam members for retaining the latch bolt in unlatched, cocked position when the door is opened but permitting the latch bolt to be tripped from said cocked position upon closing the door, whereupon the cam members forcibly move the latch bolt into latching engagement with the keeper, and means for spring-loading the other end of said unit, said means including a pin carried by the other end of said cam members, a link pivotally mounted at one end in said housing and at its other end slotted to slidably receive said last mentioned pin, and a spring-loaded member slidably carried by said link and connected to said last mentioned pin for maintaining the cam free of said cam members in contact with the rollers on said latch bolt.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,385,961 Anderson Oct. 2, 1945 2,679,424 Johnson May 25, 1954 2,679,425 Johnson May 25, 1954 

